Overlord: The Wraith
by Aizzec
Summary: Underneath the Overlord's Throne, is a prison. A Prison for a person of unimaginable power. Fallow this one's journey of chaotic oddity as this one creates allies and foes alike: Thy Library is turned to ash by flames. Thy books burned by the flame. But, books remain in the ash. Thy shall persevere, for thou art a Wraith, art thou not? Warning: Rated M for graphical content.
1. Chapter 1: Leaving

Cover Art belongs too: Lutherniel at Deviantart, here is a link; lutherniel

If Luthernial complains about the cover art, I will remove it and do so willingly, so death threats and sue will be unnecessary.

Any and all references that hint towards a game, anime, manga, book, movie or tv series belongs to it's original owners.

Disclaimer: I do not own Overlord, or any other copyrighted content.

Good day and enjoy this story.

Please point out grammar and miss spellings.

Update: Just fixing a few things.

* * *

Somewhere in the New World is a black and moist room made of the darkest stone. It has no windows, no furniture, no nothing. Not even torches. The only thing that stopped this room from being the definition of empty was the black silhouette of a being. Now, one would think, _"Why would anyone want to be in here? It's empty and boring!"_ Tis what most would think and say. Only this silhouette is here because, this is where this one has been for a _long_ time, often forgetting why this one is even here. Only for it to burn back into this one's head like an iron brander, hotter then any fire magic.

If one were to bring a source of light into this decrepit room, the silhouette would be banished, but the being would remain. For this one is chained here.

This... Room if you will, is a prison for this one and _only_ this one. With light, you would see armor plates scattering the eroded floor, a gleaming silver demonic fifty cm long sword lay on the ground to the far right, among all this is a shackled, man with messy, unkempt silverish-gray hair reaching his nape and a bit further covered by a reddish-brown, black tight, but loose shirt and pants.

This one is imprisoned here for unknown reasons, the chains that bind him here have weakened and frayed with age, allowing him freedom with a hearty tug, but this one chooses to remain. Even when the silhouette is banished. This one waits for something...

And that something...

Is today.

* * *

A jet-black haired, horned maiden- with the beauty to make goddesses envy her, in a white dress with a pair of black angle wings at her waist was- "I didn't even think a corpse could be moist!" Well, maiden might be overstating her a little bit. This is Albedo, the Overseer of the Guardians of the Great Tomb of Nazarick. She is in charge of the general management and supervises the activities of the seven Floor Guardians. She is also the sister of Nigredo and Rubedo. Along with her sisters, she was created by Tabula Smaragdina.

Well, with what she just said, some would question her being a overseer, and she had just shouted at a short, pale, little girl in a really odd dress with a ribbon holding her hair, "What would you even know about being horny?! You must be wet twenty four seven!" Oh... Well, not much of little girl now, huh... Anyway, this is Shalltear Bloodfallen, she's a true vampire and the Floor Guardian of the first to third floors of the Great Tomb of Nazarick. She was created by Peroroncino, that... kind of explains the profanities.

Well... It's quite obvious what's happening and where this is, along with who these people are, yet this time. It will go from insults. To one little shove, which is going to change. _E_ _verything_.

Aura and Mare, were here as well, two little, not so, dark elves. And Aura was trying to break them up, and she was doing a terrible job considering Albedo and Shalltear have started shoving and pushing each other, "You probably just seduced Lord Ainz with those oversized boobs of yours!" Shalltear shouted, while she was pushing and shoving Albedo.

Albedo was furious now, more so then before. She decided to use her breasts to her advantage, "At least my breasts are real!" Albedo exclaims, in Shalltear's face mind you, tis insult to injury at this point. "Okay, this is getting a little bit out of control..." Aura speaks, but these to are at each other's throat at this point and won't listen to anything.

* * *

 _"How strange... Don't normally hear anything in here..."_ This one could hear... confrontation? This one could hear shouting of all sorts, this one is confused at this, this one could never hear- Than it struck this one in the head like a war hammer. It resonated through this one's head, _"It's time."_ As the thought sounded through this ones head, this one could hear grinding and more shouting, "What the?! The thrones moving!" it sounded like a boy, this one is confused, _"Why is there a boy here?"_ This one, could hear foot steps. The steps were walking down the staircase, this one could _feel_ the sensation of the light from the staircase.

The steps stopped, this one didn't to looked to see they were here, "What the hell? who's this and why is he here?" A woman's voice questions this one's presence? Did they not know this one was here. Foot steps, one of them is approaching this one, the staircase is only thirteen feet away.

Twelve feet. The steps persist.

Eleven feet. The woman is closer now.

Ten point five feet. So close, this one could smell her.

Ten- Instinct kicks in for this one. The chain holding this one's right arm is forcibly broken and strikes at the woman, this one didn't need to look to see his strike had been true, for this one felt the vibrations in the chain from hitting her, "Albedo!" Soon after the shout, this one could hear three sets of feet along with a resonating thud, signifying this one had knocked the other back.

This one started to break the chains.

Today is the day. This One will. Walk.

* * *

Albedo was flat on her back after the chained man broke his chain and attacked her, she could already feel a bruise forming, "Damn! That was unexpected!" Albedo exclaimed as she stood up, she could hear the others steps behind her.

 ** _Crack- Snap!  
_**

The sound of chains breaking stopped everyone, looking at the chained man, they could see him breaking the chains with no effort. As he broke the chains and stood they could hear rattling all around them, looking at the ground they saw metal plates everywhere, some were just rattling, while a few other threw themselves at the man.

Who had broken out of his chains and approaching them was being staggered by the plates hitting and making a place on his body.

Albedo continued to stare at what was happening, before she felt a soft fabric hit her and blind her, this caused Albedo to panic and thrash around as she couldn't see her enemy who among all the noise was still walking towards her, but his foot steps sounded different from before. Instead of leather, booted foot falls, they sounded like heavy steel thuds as he walked to her.

Still struggling with the fabric that's blinded her.

Until everything stopped, the rattling, the steel foot steps from the... Prisoner? Intruder? Doesn't matter, stopped. The silence made Albedo stop as well, before Albedo felt the fabric slid off of her and her sight returned to her, the first thing she saw was two, sharp, steel greaves that looked like plate after plate had be stacked on upon each other. Looking up, Albedo gazed upon a man _as_ pale as her with burning, orange red eyes, which were narrowed at, well, everything and looked tired, as she gazed at his eyes, he surveyed the room, no- more like searching the room, before his head stopped scanning the room and looked in one direction. Albedo felt compelled, to look at what he was, but she forced her eyes to stare at him.

A sudden pain in her head distracted her, Albedo was disorientated and she felt like she was floating in water. Albedo felt something land next to her, she looked to her left and saw Shalltear face down on the floor. All of Albedo's senses stormed back into her head like a flood raging in a river. Albedo jumped up from her position on the ground, and was now standing up right and in her black, full plate armor with her battle-axe, ready to fight.

She saw him walking towards a demonic looking sword with chips in the blunt blade, deciding to not give him the chance to arm himself, Albedo bounded over to him and swung her battle-axe at him diagonally, only for it faze right through him, "What the?!" In her moment of shock the man had spun around and reverse-round-house kicked her in her abdomen with his plated boot, It didn't hurt her with the plate protecting her, As Albedo Recovered from the strong kick she watched him grab the blunt- Albedo gazed in shock as the blade refined it's self into a perfect, sharp edge.

Albedo would have charged right back at him only for Aura and Mare to attack him, "Stream of Lava!" Mare shouted as a stream of Lava sprayed out of his _'Shadow of YGGDRASIL'_ , "Greater Magic Shield." His voice sounded like it hadn't been use for a long time, but it held power behind. Along with his words, a liquid like aqua blue shield formed in front of the him and caused Mare's 'Stream of Lava' to hit the shield, This made jump Mare slightly, who was sure this opponent wouldn't be capable of such magic.

Aura off to the side pulls out ' _Queen'_ , and tries to us the whip to restrain one of the man's limbs so he's open for an attack. She succeeds having the whip wrap around his left arm, only for him to grab the whip and yank it, causing Aura to fly at him. Shalltear watched as the man readied his sword for a stab at Aura's head, Shalltear stops this, shouting, "Force Explosion!" After the name of the spell was called out, an invisible shockwave hits the man's sword arm knocking the sword out of his hand but not stunning him, only making him flinch slightly. He Briefly glances at his hand, before flinging Aura into the wall. Afterwords he gazes at Mare behind his 'Greater Magic Shield' and raises his left arm with his index finger, "Chain Dragon Lightning." Mare's eyes widen as a dragon shaped bolt of lightning raced towards him, Mare thinks quickly, "Magic Shield!" The lightning strikes the shield and breaks it, the shield stopped the seventh tier magic, but the distraction of the lightning stopped the flow of the lava, allowing the man movement.

After the lava had stopped the man's first priority was his sword, instead of running he just walked to it. Seeing this as an opportunity, Albedo and Shalltear charge him, Shalltear with her _Spuit Lance'_ and Albedo with her battle-axe, both in their armor. Albedo was first to reach him, she swung her battle-axe downward at him intending to embed it in his skull, but the man saw this coming and grabbed a hold of the poll of her battle-axe with his left gauntlet, "Your in my way." He spoke, bluntly and calmly, in the corner of his eye, he saw Shalltear charging at him with her ' _Spuit Lance'_ , instead of just throwing Albedo, he disarmed her of her battle-axe and threw her at Shalltear with his left. Shalltear had to lower her lance least she impale Albedo.

The man quickly tossed the battle-axe into his right gauntlet, he shifted he's left greave in front of him and right behind, stretching his left arm as if he going to catch something, poising himself to throw Albedo's battle-axe at Aura, who as recovered some from getting slammed into the wall.

After taking the appropriate stance for throwing, the man pushes himself forward with his left leg and uses the torque from his waist to empower the battle-axe's toss. Aura, who was still recovering from slamming into the wall, had to dive into the ground to avoid the flying battle-axe of death.

Afterward the combat had stopped. Mare had spent some of her MP during the fight, Aura was recovering from avoiding the battle-axe and hitting the wall, and Shalltear and Albedo were trying to get untangled from each other. Everyone stopped, breathing when they all heard the man move to his sword on the ground, Aura stood up ready to fight some more much like her brother, only for all of them to watch in confusion as the man sheathed his sword in a sheath on his back that none of them noticed before.

The man made his way to the staircase, completely ignoring them. When he got to the staircase, he stopped and ripped his sword out of it's sheath, this caused a chain reaction. Mare was prepared to cast a spell, Shalltear and Albedo fought harder to untangle themselves from the other.

"Not one more step." The man warned, as he held his sword in his left hand and had it pointing at Aura, who was standing on his left. The others waited in bated breath for him to make a move, "I have a question." Aura stated, this made the man raise his eyebrow, asking a armed and dangerous person a question.

Aura gazed into the man's eyes, they were narrowed... And tired? Is that what she saw? The eyes of a man who hadn't gotten any rest, "What is it." The man responded, as he stared at her with his sword aimed at her throat. Aura could tell he preferred fact and logic over fiction and unreasonableness, this almost made Aura frown, almost, "How did you get here?" Aura asked, they normally ask 'who are you' or 'what's your name'.

"I was always here." He stated, as he sheathed his sword and walked up the staircase. As he ascended the staircase, the other's walked over and listened as his steps faded the higher he went up, "Um, w-what just happened?" Mare asked, while he looked at the other's.

Albedo looked at all of them, "I don't know." Albedo said, as she gazed up the staircase. After a few moments, they noticed how they couldn't hear the man's greaves hitting the staircase. This prompted them to ascend the staircase early.

After a few minutes, they were back in the throne room. The man was no where in sight.

Mare casts 'Detect Life', she only detects the others.

There's no one here, aside from them.

He's gone, he disappeared.

 _like a wraith_

* * *

The man walked down a road, a stream was to his right with a lone tree and to his left is a dense forest. The man walked the road in silence, until he starts to hear the rattling of a carriage. Not long after he heard the carriage, he saw the carriage. There was a boy on the carriage which was surrounded by other armed people, no doubt guarding the carriage. The man stepped to the side a foot or two, as to avoid the carriage and keep them out of his personal comfort zone.

As the carriage came closer a pressure started to weight

Gazing at the carriage as he walked, he analyzed them, four men, one woman, two boys, all armed except the one on the carriage.

The first boy- no, it's a girl. Her face is to feminine for a boy, her skin is to subtle as well. Regardless, she can still pose a threat, she brown hair and blue eyes, she has a catalyst with her, a spell caster type.

The second boy, he has bowl-cut blonde hair and... Blue eyes? I can't see past his hair, he has a leather apron on, must be a smith.

The man with the long sword on his waist, blonde hair and blue eyes, the sword just says he's a warrior type. The pressure's getting heavier

The man with the bow and quiver, blonde hair with brown eyes, a archer- no, he has a long sword at his waist. a Ranger no doubt,

The large man with the beard and bulky body, I don't see any weapons on him, not even a catalyst of some kind. Wait, there's three pouches held at his waist by a leather strip, another spell caster type.

The woman at the back, black hair in a hair pony tail and black eyes? Maybe dark purple, she has a cloak wrapped around her, I can't what she is, but she has a sword under the cloak. The pressure he was feeling was almost suffocating him.

The pressure doubled ten fold when he identified the source. A Man donning dark raven black plate armor with gold trimming and two great swords crossed over his back, a red cape was draped over his right shoulder, the man could feel the armored man's gaze burning hole in his head. The stare down was broken by the man's black plate armor smacking against it's self.

The man continued walking past the black armored man, as the man gained distance from the carriage, the pressure started lifting, but the memory was still fresh, the pressure was lingering. He could hear the man and woman converse with one another.

"Momon, you felt it as well." The woman spoke, giving the man a means to identify the black armored man, "Yes, I did Nabe." Momon stated, acknowledging this 'Nabe', while he looked at Nabe though his helmet, before looking forward, "But, something was wrong with it." Momon spoke- no, stated.

Nabe looked at Momon, "The pressure he was giving off, it was... in pieces. I felt it in one area on my body and nothing in another." Momon spoke, he looked over his shoulder and watched the man walk away, "Like rain, or a w..." The man walked out of hearing range by the time Momon was about to finish what he was saying.

 _"So, I'm not hallucinating. Half my power has been sealed, but when... Is what I would like to know."_ The man thought as the pressure from Momon slowly dissipated, the man continued walking down the road, but he was walking a little closer to the forest on his left _,_ _"At least I'm alone, no one to bother me. Good."_ The man thought as he wandered down the road.

Little did he know, he would encounter someone that will drive him mad.

But be his best companion.

* * *

The sun had set, the moon and stars had taken their rightful place in the night sky. One would be able to see the beautiful night sky, if it weren't for the camp fire surrounded by a merry group of laughing adventurers, in this group is Momon and Nabe. However, Momon was to distracted by The man in red and steel that had walked by them, _"He was strange. And he felt powerful too! But, half his power was sealed, I'd say he was just bit weaker then Albedo. If that's how strong he his with half his power sealed, than... How strong is his he with all his power?"_ Momon thought, looking away from the stars and at the bowl of soup in his hands, seeing the spoon in his hand, his thoughts drifted to the armor the man was wearing, _"He's armor looked familiar too. I can't remember it's name, what was it? The 'Duigam'? No, that's not right... The 'Durieal'? Maybe, it was something along the lines of Durium-"_ As soon as the word appeared in his head, it resonated through his, hidden, skeletal head, _"That's right it's called the 'Durium's Knight' armor, armor that once belonged to a overlord named Durium, the Third Berserker Overlord. The armor's lore in YGGDRASIL says that he conquered the world of Asgard within six months. How did that guy get the armor?"_ Momon's thought, while staring at the spoon.

Even though it has been a long while since they all last saw the man, Momon looked in the direction the man went, _"The better question is. Was he a player? Or a **really** powerful NPC..." _Momon thought, before he heard his name being called, he turned back to the 'Swords of Darkness' and went on with the night.

Later in the night, Momon received a call from Albedo, about a man in a secret room underneath the throne, "What did he look like, Albedo?" Momon asked over the call, **"He had messy, gray hair, orangery red eyes and a red shawl, Lord Ainz."** Hearing the words that came from Albedo's mouth made Momon or Ainz's eyes widen in realization, "I-I walked right by him, earlier today..." Momon said as he looked at the road, since he was on watch for the night.

* * *

The man... How about we just call him Durium, for now. Durium trudged along the road, the stream that was on his right has long since disappeared into the thick forest that was now on both sides of the road, Durium also had started to walk in the center of the road long ago. In the distance Durium heard the crack of thunder, hearing the drums of the heavens, Durium looked up from the road ahead of him and at the sky.

Upon looking at the sky Durium saw a flash of lightning, fallowing the lightning was the crack of power that fallowed it, echoing through sky and soon reaching Durium's ear. Shortly fallowing heavens spear, whatever gods are up there started to cry.

At first, heavens tears were gentle and unnoticeable, in a few short minutes. It was as if heaven's flood gate had opened, showering the land with rain.

The rain pelting Durium's form slightly eased his fatigue mind, but did nothing ease his mind completely, _"I need to be careful, this rain and harsh wind is ideal for knocking branches and trees down."_ As if fate just wanted to prove his thoughts right, a tree branch fell right behind him, not bothering to turn around to inspect it as he knew what it was, _"Must not distract myself from my journey to the near by city, 'E-Rantel' was it?"_ Durium thought as he trudged through the now muddy road, with slow strides as to not fatigue himself.

As Durium walked along the road, in the distance he saw a young boy running towards him, upon the boy getting closer Durium could see he had no protection from the rain, only brown tunic and tan pants with leather boots on. Seeing this made Durium furrow his brow, _"Even a boy isn't stupid enough to run in the rain without a cloak of some kind."_ As Durium watched the boy run closer and closer, Durium saw a man and woman running behind him in the distance, _"Their not the boy's family, their armed and covered with blood. Bandits or raiders, different name, same meaning."_ Durium would have continued walking had the child not ran into his leg, and looked up at Durium with blood on his face, "Help me! Please!" The young boy shouted at him, Durium reached for his sword and pulled it from it's sheath.

Ready to kill the child that was to close for comfort, only for a thought to cross his mind, "I'll help you," The boy smiled brightly at Durium, "In exchange for information." The boy looked at Durium, at first he was confused, but he soon remembered the two murders chasing him. When the two murders surfaced to the forefront of the child brain, he nodded his head furiously.

The boy soon felt his momentum change as the man threw him to the side and into the mud, now that the boy was off to the side he could see the man more clearer, he was wearing armor the boy thought only villains and bad guys in stories wore. looking to his left, down the road and at the two murders, he saw them both standing there and panting like they had run a marathon, the short, lanky man with the red bandana wrapped around his head spoke first, "Hey, why don't you hand over that brat to us and you live, whatta ya say?" Durium looked at the man in disgust, not for the fact he reeked, or the fact that he expected him to just give him the boy- who had promised information. No, it was the fact that he thought he could intimidate him.

"I'm afraid I can't do that. The 'brat' has promised me information, in exchange for your heads." The two bandits, looked at one another, before the man started bursting into laughter, the woman on his left however just started sweating. Durium looked at her with his fiery red eyes, _"She knows... Good."_ The man had stopped his laughter at this point, and looked a Durium with rabid, hungry eyes and a grin fit for a savage goblin.

The two men just stared at each other for a moment, before the bandit ran at him, Durium readied himself for a decapitation, he crouched down and stretched his sword arm -his right arm- out, palm face down, and waited as the man came closer, Durium's eyes were directed at the man's neck, like a wolf ready too pounce the lone rabbit. The bandit lunged at Durium, _"Wrong move."_

Durium stepped forward and swung, finely cutting of the man's head, quickly stabbing his sword into the corpse's chest, Durium slammed the corpse into the ground behind him. Durium removed the chipped, razor sharp, blade from the bandit's chest and flicked the blood of the blade.

Durium leered at the woman, whom was shaking in fear, when she saw Durium's gaze, she turned around to hastily and slipped in the mud. The boy watched in horror as the woman ran for her life, only for the young child to see Durium raise his hand a point his index finger at the woman. The child heard two words, two words that would haunt him for eternity, "Hell Fire." A little, dark, blood red flame darted from Durium's finger and at the woman. Upon contact with the woman's back as she continued slipping in the mud to get up, the small flame burst into a burning bloody plume of evil, dark fire. The woman screamed for a few moment before she, and everything on her, was turned into ash. The young child stared in horror at what he witnessed.

The child was broken of out his stare by the nightmare now standing in front of him, "Now, shall we trade information." Durium asked, the child was to terrified to say no, "Now, I only want to know one thing," The boy looked at him, waiting for what his question was, "How much further is the fortress known as 'E-Rantel' from here?" Durium questioned, awaiting the young child's answer. Durium wasn't blind, he could see he was terrifying the young child, but he couldn't be damned to care.

"I-it's a-a day's w-walk f-f-from h-here..." The boy stuttered out of his quivering mouth, what the child saw now wasn't a man, not a monster either, but a nightmare- no! A Night-terror.

"A day's walk, huh... I'm grateful for the information. Now, what is your question for me." Durium asked, he watched the young child stop shaking for a moment.

"W-what's y-your name?" The child asked, he wasn't stuttering as much as when Durium asked him how much further E-Rantel was.

"Your strong boy, I like that. A _very_ rare trait for someone your age." Durium spoke, making the child stop shaking a little as he looked up at the night-terror, "Now, my name..." Durium spoke, as he finally sheathed his sword and gazed at the child, "Is, Aratus." The now named Aratus started walking off down the road after speaking his name to the child.

The child fell down to the ground on his hands and knees once he couldn't see the night-terror anymore.

* * *

The child stayed like that for a few minutes, before he could hear the sound of horses coming his way, as fast the thundering sound of Horses galloping through the rain came, it stopped. Looking up the boy saw a man in white armor with a sunbathed face and short trimmed black hair and eyes of the same color, he was slick from the rain and he look down at the child, "Young child, what happened here? Are you injured?" The man in white armor spoke from on top his white steed.

"I-I'm fine..." The child looked down as he spoke, the man looked at the child and cringed.

"My name is Gazef Stronoff, What's your name young one. " The child looked up and saw a leather armored hand stretched out for him.

In this exact moment the clouds parted and the sun shined on the man, making him look like a hero from the stories his mother told him, The boy took Gazef's hand and was heaved onto the horse sitting in front of the saddle with Gazef against his back.

"Ren. my name's Ren." Ren looked up at Gazef, as they rode down the road.

"Let's get you home Ren..." Ren soon fell asleep on the horse.

* * *

Durium, now named Aratus, was trudging through a village with a bit of dried blood staining his right hand, and it's not his. The village that had been attacked by bandits? Here's a quick recap of what happened.

The bandits were loitering around the village they had taken in the past few hours: Murdering anyone that tried to stand against them, Pillaging the houses, and raping anyone they pleased; men, women and children alike. All the bandits stopped what they were doing upon hearing the sound of Aratus's multi-plated greaves hitting the muddy road, Aratus didn't even glance at the bandits and just walked through the village as if it were a ghost town, devoid of life.

Well, that's would have happened, had the bandits not surrounded him. Aratus gazed at the bandits surrounding him, gauging them in the process, and determined they were all weak. Aratus could hear the disgusting sounds of; chuckles, snorts and chatter from the bandits. Among the bandits were; elderly people, women, men and, yes, even children.

Disgust flooded Aratus' being like a dam bursting from too much water, _"This is disgusting. I'll just kill them all."_ Aratus thought, pulling the demonic sword from his back and gazed at the leader, at least he assumed the woman that was cleanly dressed, and almost beautiful enough for his standards too. _Almost_... Too bad she has to die.

The bandit chief was a lustrous woman with bright red hair and green eyes with freckles dotting her face, "SO!" She shouted at him from the three foot distance, that Aratus could cover in one leap, she was most likely trying to encourage her renegades and intimidate him, "Who the fuck do you think you are, waltzing in here like you own this shit hole!?" She shouted, whilst giving Aratus a crazed, murderous glare while smiling like a cheshire cat **[** **1]**.

Aratus stared at her as she started too swagger her way closer to him, she stopped one foot from his kill zone when Aratus pointed his sword at her. She stopped when the sword appeared right between her eyes, forcing her to look cross eyed at the tip of the shiny sword. The action caused the other bandits too tense and draw any weapons they had on them, however they didn't move or jump to strike him. Aratus could see she had raised her hand, signaling them to stop and not attack him, "Now, now guys! I don't want a single scratch on his...his..." She stopped whatever she was saying as she looked at his face and...

Bit her lip? Hard enough to draw blood when she gazed at his cold, sharp yet dull, fiery eyes, "His... Handsome face~" She spoke- no, slurred would be a better answer.

Aratus's eyes narrow at her as she grabbed the blade tenderly with her left hand's finger, pulled it to the side and walked forward, successfully slicing into her fingers and causing blood to trail down Aratus's demonic sliver blade. She was standing right in his kill zone, every fiber in Aratus's being screamed- no, screeched at him to kill her, but he willed himself to withdraw his instincts, "Something about you is so... Intriguing~" She stared at Aratus's eyes, and he did the same. All expression and emotion left her face, unintentionally starting a staring competition.

After a few minutes she saw something in his eyes, something dangerous, she removed her hand from his sword and backed away, "Clear a path and let him out, don't get to close! Unless, of course, you want to die a quick and painless death!" She shouted sternly, this quick change in personality caused Aratus to raise his left eyebrow questioningly. The Bandit Chief saw the question coming as she watched her renegades scatter to form a path for Aratus, "If we even tried to fight and kill you, you could easily slaughter us like pigs." This statement made her men sweat bullets, as well as for them to start whispering amongst themselves.

Aratus didn't question this and sheathed his sword and started to walk down the path they had created for him, well he would have had he not be stopped by the chief, "Hey! What's your name, handsome?" She shouted, Aratus turned his head to look at her over his shoulder, "Aratus." Aratus stated his name for the second time that day, the bandit chief scoffed and smirked at him, "Well, Aratus, my name is Electra, Electra Lunartail **[2]**. Have a good one, handsome!" With Electra's rather friendly send off, Aratus continued walking forward.

* * *

And that's what happened one, maybe, two hours ago. Aratus looked in the direction of the sun, blocked out it glorious flare with his left gauntlet covered hand, _"It's getting late, I should be at E-Rantel in the next two maybe five hours, the boy I helped said it was a days walk, might be six hours."_ Aratus looked forward and continued walking on the often traveled dirt road. The sound of the bush along with it's residences and Aratus's multi-plated armor was the only sounds coming from the surrounding area.

Aratus looked around himself at the health vegetation as he walked, _"I might as well enjoy this. It is peaceful, but I personally prefer combat._ _"_ Aratus thought, walking down the dirt road proved to be oddly relaxing for him, the sensation of his tensed muscle slowly dissipated, greedily sucking in the clean purified oxygen from the rain storm soothed him fur-

 **Clang!**

Aratus's eyes snapped open when he heard his armor plates smash against him and the other plates, Aratus's right eye twitch slightly in irritation as he stared at the armor, however a thought forced it's way into the fore front of his mind, Aratus fallowed the thought and caused his armor to disappear along with his red shawl, sudden information flooded Aratus's mind, information that assured him that he still had his armor, but he 'stored' it away. With sudden disappearance of his armor, all Aratus had on was a pair of black leather chaps with blackish red cloth pants underneath, on his feet is a pair of reddish leather boots, over his chest and arms was a black brownish shirt that looked like it was made of leather, covering his hand were tight, black leather glove.

On Aratus's back was his sword, knowing he was armed Aratus continued walking in blissful silence, with nothing but nature's instruments and his sword. Aratus continued traveling to E-Rantel.

To Be Continued.

* * *

 _Next Chapter:_ The double door entrance of the local Inn in E-Rantel was kicked open, forcing a gust of wind to mess up Aratus's already messy hair- who was sitting at the table closest to the entrance.

 **[1]** **'** **S** **miling like a cheshire cat' is a reference to the Cheshire Cat's wide grin in 'Alice In Wonderland (1999)'.  
**

 **[2] '** **Electra Lunartail' is a female Griffin name, Electra Lunartail means 'electric moon tail', don't ask. I just thought it was a nice name.  
**


	2. Chapter 2: Black Horse

Cover Art belongs too: Lutherniel at Deviantart.  


If Luthernial complains about the cover art, I will remove it and do so willingly, so death threats and sue will be unnecessary.

Any and all references that hint towards a game, anime, manga, book, movie or tv series belongs to it's original owners.

Disclaimer: I do not own Overlord, or any other copyrighted content.

Good day and enjoy this story.

* * *

The trek to E-Rantel for Aratus was long and uneventful when he went through the bandit-taken village, Aratus, however, did enjoy the walk. After he had striped his armor off, the 'Durium's Knight' set **[1]** , the journey was peaceful and quiet, as nobody, oddly enough, was on the road for the time he had been walking along the water soaked ground.

Aratus peered ahead of himself and through the treeline hoping to see some kind of sign that he was close to E-Rantel, only for a small prickling feeling to well up in him, Aratus's instincts shouted at him to move.

And he listened to them, forcing himself too roll forward and into the muddy road. His rolling action caused mud to stain his clothes, his hair and face, the dark, wet soil of the road looked out of place on his deathly pale skin and silverish, gray hair.

Fallowing his instincts and diving into the mud was a good decision, as a crossbow bolt firmly planted it's self in the mud where, from a higher angle, his head would have been, not wasting time as the ranged opponent was most likely reloading their crossbow. Aratus ripped his sword from it's black leather prison on his back while still being crouch low to the ground in a position where he could either; Roll again, or sprint.

As Aratus waited in bated breath for another crossbow bolt, or some kind of ambush. After being crouched down for a few minutes with nothing happening, Aratus stood up cautiously as his eyes scanned the brush around his surrounding area.

Aratus closed his eyes and focused his senses- he could just use magic, but where's the fun in that? Two of Aratus's six senses sharpened, everything was clearer- more focused, Aratus could smell the fresh grass scent, the fresh air was filled with the purifying sent of fresh rain. A pungent scent of a rotting corpse assaulted Aratus's nose, the foal stench of the rotting flesh, the burst guts and decaying skin almost made him herl, rapidly slapping his left hand over his mouth to resist the urge to vomit.

Aratus's gag reflex stopped as soon as his heighten hearing picked up the sound of rope being strained. Almost like a- Aratus's eyes snapped open at the sound, _"Move!"_ Aratus shouted through his mind, the sudden command from his conscience made his muscle spur into action, launching himself from his position and, once again in the span of four minutes, into the muddy road, further splashing his already muddy and wet person with more mud.

Aratus heard the sound of a crossbow bolt hit the soaked soil once again, _"I've had this. They will burn along with the forest."_ Aratus thought, standing up from his prone position in the mud, Aratus leered in the direction he heard the crossbow string being pulled, brow furrowed and eyes like that of a hungry wolf eyeing a lone hare in the snow.

Aratus was blinded for a moment possibly the crossbow bolts or their weapons reflecting the the clouded sun light shining through the three leaves, _"I shouldn't need anything too powerful, but I don't want them to live."_ Aratus thought as he leered at his attacker through the tree line. Aratus focused his hearing and could her them, "Hey, I think he's spotted us." One of them spoke. A man from the sound of it, quite young too- but at any rate, Aratus was right, it's a pair of bandits looking to get lucky.

"No way man, that's fucking impossible from where he his and where we are!" The second voice was young, very young and feminine, Aratus was done playing games.

"Flamewing **[2]**." As Aratus spoke the name of the 6th tier spell, a massive, burning wing appeared behind him on the right side of his back, behind his right arm. Aratus swung his right arm back with his sword in hand, the wing fallowed his action, rearing it's self back. Aratus swung his right arm forward, swinging his sword to his left shoulder. The Flamewing did as he did and slowly swung it's self forward setting the fresh grass ablaze.

Soon enough Aratus could hear screaming, the two bandits were burning alive, _"Good."_ Aratus thought, the 6th tier spell disappeared soon after Aratus had used it. Aratus watched the forest as it burned, all while listening to the agonizing screams of pain coming from the two bandits. Aratus almost felt bad... Almost.

Soon after, the screams from the two young bandits ceased and Aratus looked to his left as he sheathed his sword and continued walking down the road. Aratus rubbed the tear ducts of his eyes as the strain from using two powerful spells, in the span of seven to eight hours, was starting to way on him, don't get him wrong, he could cast about forty to, maybe, fifty 'Reality Slashes' and he'd still be able to walk afterwards.

Upon rubbing his tear ducts, Aratus noticed the mud on his face, after realizing there was mud on his face and in his hair, he starting getting very itchy, When he tried to wipe some of the mud off, dirt flakes laid on the back of his leather covered right hand, _"The fire from the Flamewing dried the mud on me. How annoying."_ Aratus thought, as he stared at the dirt flakes he noticed the sun was just below the mountains surrounding his area.

Looking ahead, Aratus could see the moon coming up, Aratus raised an eyebrow at this, _"You'd think the sun would have set hours ago."_ Aratus thought as he gazed at the slowly raising moon. Aratus soon shook his head and continued walking down the road.

* * *

Luna, in all her glory, was shining high in the night sky among the incandescent stars. The sunlight reflecting off Luna's surface was bright enough to cast light on the terrain, allowing Aratus sight in the night without magic or touch light, although he couldn't see the moon it's self, due to a thick amount of tree branches arcing over the road.

Aratus's midnight walk was relaxing, maybe a little _too_ relaxing, if one were walking with Aratus right now, they would either; freakout and run, or stare at him in wonderment, or bewilderment. Now, the reason for this thought was Aratus's unique ability, rightfully dubbed 'Wraith', is getting a little... Out of control, so to speak. As Aratus walks down the road, he's leaving a smoke-like trail behind him which as quickly as the smoke-like effect leaves his body, it comes back, although it's unnoticeable.

Mixing the 'Wraith' ability with his pale, ghostly skin, sliverish gray hair and the moonlight, This gives him an angelic appearance in the cold air of night, However, if one were to shine more light on him, they would see dried mud and dried blood stains making him look like a fallen angel of some kind. Quite the sight indeed, beautiful, but dangerous.

Aratus trudged down the dirt road, all by his lonesome self, and he was enjoying the refreshing, cold night air.

As Aratus walked he broke out from under in the thick brush above his head, allowing him to see the beautiful night sky without lights obscuring his vision of the stars. Aratus looked ahead and saw small dots of lights in the distance, touch light to be specific, _"E-Rantel, the walk has been long and quite nice, even with the few setbacks such as; the bandits, the child, and the two fools in the forest. I enjoyed this none the less."_ Aratus wistfully thought, Aratus stared at E-Rantel for a bit, before continuing his walk towards it.

* * *

Aratus was half way from his previous position to E-Rantel and as he got closer the night started it's change from night to day. As Aratus approached E-Rantel, he watched Sol rise behind the fortress, basking the black stone walls with it's incandescent shine. Even from where he his, Aratus could see the gate, which had some carriages leaving the city within the walls, most likely merchants of all kinds. Aratus watched as carriage after carriage started leaving while some entered.

Aratus was now a good ten-fourteen minutes away from the city, Aratus couldn't help but watched the carriage flood out of the city like cockroaches on a filthy kitchen bench, _"Quite the busy fortress it seems, from what I remember, it doubles as a checkpoint to the main kingdom, at least that's what I recall. I could be wrong."_ Aratus thought, Aratus stared at the gates as he approached the fortress, Aratus wistfully reequipped his armor as he neared the fortress gates.

While approaching the gates, Aratus examined the gate to figure out how to get in, this was a strategic idea as he saw a small door with in the massive gates. Aratus approached the door within the larger door, as Aratus stood in front of it, he knocked his hand on the iron enforced door. A small hatch at Aratus chest opened up, Aratus crouched down slightly to become eye level with the city guard on the other side, "Who are you and what business do you have in E-Rantel?" The guard spoke sternly.

Aratus stared at him for a moment before speaking, "My name is Aratus, I'm a traveler and have come to E-Rantel to rest." That last bit was a lie, Aratus doesn't need food, rest or water. As Aratus looked the guard dead in the eye, Aratus could see he was making the guard uncomfortable, _very_ uncomfortable.

The guard felt as though his armor wanted to boil him alive as this very tall man was hunched over and staring at him though the hatch with eyes the color of an inferno, yet they were colder then any ice magic he had ever seen. Bulking under the intense gaze of the traveler, "Alright, I'll let you in. Just a moment!" The guard said, the hatch of the door slammed shut as Aratus stood up from his hunched position at the door.

Soon after Aratus stood up the guard opened the door and stood back as Aratus crouched down and stepped though the door way, the guard started sweating once Aratus was on the other side of the door, the guard was head to head with the giant's chest. The guard returned to his seat at the door once Aratus had walked off, "Holy christ! That man was massive!" The guard shouted, while resting in the chair at the door.

* * *

After entering the bustling city/fortress Aratus' first objective was to find the local Inn and sit down for a minute, and quite possibly understand what it is that his going to do here. He was drawn here and he'd be damned, which he already is, if he didn't find out why.

Something Aratus hates, among other things he hates, is not having any understanding or knowledge of things, it irritates him slightly. Normally, he would continue with his objective, but it is best too rest and clear his mind. After all, even beings like him need too... 'Unwind' from time to time, _"And the best way too 'unwind' is to find the local Inn and have a cold drink."_ While Aratus may not _need_ sustenance, he can still enjoy it- it's just, it gets turned into energy as soon as he swallows.

As Aratus walked down the busy street he searched his surroundings for an Inn. However, there was one problem, the streets were beginning to become crowded, Aratus was busy and was not in the mood to commit mass genocide on the fortress like city, _"It would be quite a waste of a good city anyway."_ Aratus thought as people began to get closer and closer too him.

The best course of action he could think of was to project an intense aura of killing intent around him, the aura was powerful enough that people immediately started to give him a _wide_ birth, no one walked or stood further then six feet near him, pets in the houses lining the street started going crazy, wild and stray cats scrambled to run from him, birds in trees and on houses started too sound off and fly away from the threat that suddenly appeared.

People that weren't close enough to feel the aura didn't understand how one man could cause such a reaction in, not only the animals, but the people as well. As the people of E-Rantel circled around him and continued on their ways -some of them looked in his direction as they walked by, Aratus spotted a local Inn and made a B-line for it, his sudden change of course made some of the people surrounding him panic and they all hurriedly split a path for him to walk through.

As Aratus walked though the pathway the people made for him, he looked around, some people were sweating bullets, some were looking at the ground and looked like they wanted to disappear, while some just stared at him.

The reaction to the aura was not what he expected it to be, what he did expect was: The way the animals reacted to him and the citizens to avoid him subconsciously, to give him at least two three feet of breathing space, but he was not expected them to actively avoid him and make a path for him to walk through.

Once Aratus was out of the street he dropped the aura and the people continued on with their days. Aratus pushed open the double doors of the Inn and walked to the first empty table he saw, which was the closest one to the entrance of the Inn.

As Aratus pulled a chair out and sat down, a waitress came over to him, donned in a white, button up and a long, black skirt "Hello and welcome to the 'Black Horse' Inn what can I... I..." She slowly stopped what she was saying, when she looked at Aratus's face and saw the pale, dirty skin and inferno like eyes.

When she came back too her senses she was blushing up a storm, a few people that walked in and out of the Inn looked concerned at how red her face was, "U-um, w-what can I get y-you...?" She spoke, whilst staring at Aratus's face, oddly enough the dried mud and dirt made him look even more handsome, too this one girl at least.

Aratus looked at his table, thinking of when he could get. As Aratus was thinking some spit had built up in his mouth, he swallowed it rather then spit it out and realized how dry his throat was, upon making a decision Aratus looked back at the waitress, "I'll have drink." He was blunt with his order, and the waitress immediately nodded at quickly walked away to get Aratus a drink.

While Aratus was sitting there waiting for his drink, the double door entrance of the 'Black Horse' was kicked open, forcing a gust of wind to mess up Aratus's already messy hair- who was sitting at the table closest to the entrance. When the gust of wind calmed down standing there is a woman with jet black, flowing wavy, shoulder length hair, with three large- not to long, bangs over her forehead with steel gray eyes, with a smooth and shaped face.

She's wearing tight, steel white armor with thin gold trim on the edges and gold accents, the armor hugged her body down to a T, but not tight enough to be considered skin-tight or show off her breasts and figure, around her neck was a long gold stole. Sticking out from under the stole was a copper plate, " _Interesting, she's wearing the 'Knight of Redemption's Armor'_ **[3]** _. A set of white and gold trimmed armor that can stop any blade- be it spear, dagger or sword, that armor_ **_will_** _stop it, but it's weak to blunt and crushing blows, she most likely relies on dodging, which means she will have a lot of endurance,"_ Aratus looked at her back and saw a two-handed longsword, _"She also seems to be quite strong judging from the two-handed longsword on her back."_

Aratus's quick analysis of this woman was from face value, but she has more tricks up her sleeves, holding the two-handed longsword to her back was a leather holster with a wider patch of leather, three small leather bands for small vials too grab and drink, there is currently two in the slots and one's missing, one vial's a dark crimson red, while the other one is a dark muddy brown. _"Interesting, I wonder what the brown one does."_ Aratus thought as he gazed at the vial of brown liquid.

Near the buckle of the holster is a leather bound book, most likely journal or a bestiary, and judging from the pencil near it she has written everything in it, "Finally back! Now, lets get some grub in my gut and turn in the quest!" She shouted loudly, she soon made strides toward the Innkeeper, who has short black hair and brown eyes.

Upon hearing the armored foot falls of the copper rank adventurer, the Innkeeper looked up from wiping the lacquered, oak wood counter and smiled brightly. "Ah! Karluaina, how have you been, love!" Shouted the Innkeeper as it looked like the two knew each other very well.

The armored woman, now named Karluaina leaned on the counter with both arms and smiled brightly. "Oh, I've been doing great, how 'bout you Eric?" Karluaina asked the now named Eric, whilst he grabbed a glass that had slid over to him from the other side of the counter.

As Eric refilled the glass with some ale and slid it back to a man with long blond hair and crystal covered steel armor. "I've been doing fine, love, business been a little slow but that ain't a problem. So, Karla, what's been happening," Karluaina was about to respond but was cut off by Eric, "and nothing about quests, what I mean is; how have you been? Have you been sleeping well? have you been drinking plenty of water? have you made any friends?" Eric's voice rose slightly towards the end, Karluaina just looked at him.

After a few seconds of staring at each other Karluaina spoke. "Well, I've been drinking plenty of water, I have been sleeping well, but I haven't made any friends." Karluaina spoke, while she was speaking she was listing off the things Eric asked her by counting her armored fingers.

Eric shook his head at the last part. "Come on Karla, you need too make friends and get a party to together for the bigger and badder quests that I know your going too start taking once you get higher from copper." Eric looked at Karla with a fatherly look, this interaction made Aratus raise a eyebrow.

As Aratus was watching, he finally noticed something. " _Where's my damn water."_ Aratus thought as he looked around for his waitress, but couldn't find her, Aratus shook his head and got up from the chair, the chair squeaked in protest from the sudden movement.

Aratus heavy steel boots thudded against the wood floor as he approached the counter, when a man in heavy azure plate armor bashed shoulders with Aratus as they walked past each other, Aratus did his best not cause a scene, but the Azure Knight had other ideas, "Hey, jackass!" The Azure Knight shouted at Aratus, but he kept walking ignoring the Azure Knight, the Azure Knight walked towards Aratus and grabbed his left shoulder, "I'm talking too you, you piece of shi-" It happened so fast.

* * *

Karluaina was watching the all thing from the counter, as soon as the azure knight yell. "Hey, jackass!" She started immediately watching and thought she might have to step in, as the Azure Knight is a gold rank adventurer and the Gray haired man, well, she can't see a rank plate on him. But even though she was watching the whole thing she just couldn't wrap her head around it.

Here's a quick recap: As soon as the Azure Knight grabbed the Gray haired man's shoulder, the Gray haired man grabbed the Azure Knight's arm with his right hand, spun around so he was face to face with the Azure Knight, and swung the Azure Knight's arm down in a circle and lifted him off the ground and spun him mid-air, then preformed a reverse round house kick, throwing the Azure Knight into a table. Leaving the Azure Knight in a groaning, woody mess.

The Gray haired man leered at the Azure Knight for a moment, before turning back to Karluaina and Eric's direction and started walking towards them, Karluaina stepped too the side so he could talk to Eric, but Karluaina and everyone else there were waiting in anticipation on what he was going too ask.

And what he asked for was so simple. "Can I get a drink of water." His request pretty much killed everyone there, the bluntness of it hurt Karluaina, metaphorically speaking of course.

Eric got him his glass of water and the Gray haired man sat on a bar stool to have his glass of water. Karluaina stood there for a moment. "Well! that was a thing." She said, Karluaina looked at Eric. "Well, now that that's over, can you whip up some grub for me Eric?" Karluaina asked, as Eric filled another glass and slid it off to a man with long milk-white hair and amber eyes.

Eric turned back to Karluaina with a smile. "Sure thing, love, but it ain't gonna be free this time." Eric said, as he crossed his arms and gave Karluaina a look that said "Cough up", Karluaina just groaned at the Innkeeper, Karluaina looked down at some leather pouches on her waist and reached for one over her left hip, unbuttoning it she pulled out a coin purse that looked quite empty and proceeded to dig around in it, the sounds of coins hitting eachother and shuffling around could be heard coming from her bag.

After a little bit of digging, Karluaina was able too find a silver coin among the ten copper coins she had, she pulled the silver dime out and place it on the counter for Eric too look at. "Alright, you want the usual?" Eric asked as he placed the silver coin Karluaina gave him into a strong box with a big fat bag of coins.

Karluaina smiled brightly at the Innkeeper. "Yep!" Eric nodded at her high spirits, as Eric stepped into the back the cook her usual, another man stepped up behind the counter to take Eric place. "Ah! Felix, how ya doing?" Felix, who was quickly introduced, looked at Karluaina with blue eyes and short side flipped blonde hair.

Felix, the new barkeep at the moment, looked down right depressed before Karluaina spoke up, "I'm doing just fine Karla, how'd your quest go?" He asked with a slight accent, very unnoticeable if you didn't know him, a empty mug slid over to him and he proceeded too fill it.

Karluaina perked up at him asking about her quest, she waited for him too serve whoever sent the drink his way, the individual was a woman dressed in full black with white hair and pale skin, Felix turned back too Karluaina and listen to her, "Well, I was able to get my hands on a E class quest!" Karluaina said, but Felix didn't look surprised at this.

Felix just shook his head as he just listen to what Karluaina said, "You know Karla, with how powerful you are, you could easily skip right to Mythril rank in the Adventurer's Guild." Felix stated, Karluaina just looked at him like he had just grown a second head.

Karluaina was about too retort, but was interrupted by the Gray haired man that had been sitting there for the past eight minutes, "Refill." He spoke, Felix just looked at the the man's glass for a moment before grabbing it and filling it with some more water, Karluaina looked at the Gray haired man.

And almost as if he could feel her staring at him, he stared right back at her. His amber red eyes burned into her steel gray, as Karluaina stared more and more at his face, she couldn't help but feel like she had seen him before and that she should know who this man is. Felix stood off to the side watching them, filling and refilling and mugs that slid his way.

Karluaina herself couldn't take it anymore and had to ask him something anything! "So, what's your name." Gods! Was there anything else she could have asked him.

The Gray haired man took a sip of his water before answering her, "Aratus." Karluaina nodded her head, and looked toward the Azure Knight that, had recovered sometime ago, was nursing his back as the back of his armor was missing a giant chunk of it's self.

Karluaina turned back to Aratus. "Well, as you've heard multiple times by now, my names Karluaina, or Karla- whichever ones easier." Karluaina, pointlessly, introduced herself too Aratus, she raised her right hand for him to shake, Aratus looked her hand for a moment before shaking it, "So, Aratus, are you an adventurer?" Karluaina asked him, before answering her question, Aratus had another drink of his glass of water.

Aratus placed his glass back on the counter and turned back to look at Karluaina. "No." Was his short and gravely reply, Karluaina looked at him in surprise, Felix almost missed a mug that slid by and on to the floor.

Just as Karluaina was about too ask Aratus something, Eric stepped out of the kitchen with a plate of what looked like large, beef steak and veggies. "Alrighty! Karla, your foods ready, fresh from the kitchen!" Eric spoke, making his way over to the three of them, he set the plate down in front of Karluaina, who was salivating at the smell and look of the big, juicy, beef steak.

Sitting down Karluaina grabbed a knife and fork and proceeded to eat the veggies first, then moved on to the best part, the steak. Karluaina stabbed the steak at the edge and cut a small portion of the steak off, raising it to her mouth, she dragged the piece of steak off of the fork and as she chewed the finely cooked meat, she practically melted in her seat. "Oh~ It's so good Eric, you've really out done yourself this time~" Karluaina moaned out, while she was chewing, Eric smiled brightly at this response as some people complained about his steak being either: To cooked, to under-cooked, to seasoned, or juicy. Karluaina's response to his steak always lifted his spirits.

Eric looked away from Karluaina and at Felix, "Alright lad, I'll take over the bar again, you can go in back into the kitchen if you want." Eric spoke, Felix nodded his head and calmly walked back into the kitchen, where he was most comfortable, mostly because he grew up helping his mother in the kitchen, but he also just loved being in the kitchen.

Karluaina noticed Aratus was still sitting there, and it looked like the water in his glass hadn't even moved, "So, Aratus, I know this is out of the blue, but do you want to sign up to become an Adventurer? And if you do, want to party up?" Karluaina asked, Aratus looked away from the counter and at her with those blood red, amber eyes, while Karluaina was expecting him too say something, before he looked back at his glass; thinking.

While Karluaina, still waiting for his answer, went back to her steak.

* * *

 _"Should I, or should I not. I know for a fact that we'll get paid, but creating a party means that I'll be slowed down, but I'll have a comrade that looks reliable enough."_ Aratus looked up from his glass and at Karluaina, who had resumed eating her steak, Karluaina glanced at him and noticed he was looking at her.

Swallowing the bit of meat in her mouth, Karluaina waited patiently for his reply too her offer. "Alright, I'll become an adventurer and... 'Party up' with you." Was his flat, yet strong, gravely answer, Karluaina smiled at this news.

"Alright, we'll get you signed up, after I finish my steak of course and you finish your water," Karluaina spoke, before looking at his glass of water, "by the way, have you even been drinking it?" Karluaina questioned, Aratus looked at it and picked it up before taking the smallest of sips ever, Karluaina just looked at him, "Okay..." Karulaina turned back too her steak and slowly finished it, savoring every bite of it.

While Aratus savored his glass of water, enjoying the sensation of the cold, refreshing liquid running down his throat.

As Aratus drank his water, he noticed that it was getting warm. _"Better drink quicker, I don't want to drink a warm glass of water. Warm water tastes awful."_ Aratus mused, he started taking larger sips, out of the corner of his eye he saw Karluaina look at him and she noticed he was drink more then before, making cut larger slices of her steak.

They were both still in enjoying it as much as possible.

hastening their actions, but still, just slow enough not to go though their supplements _to_ quickly.

* * *

With a full belly and empty plate, Karluaina pushed her plate and utensils away from her, showing that she was done, Aratus slid his empty glass forward, showing that he, as well, was finished. Karluaina watched as Aratus stood up from the bar stool and just realized how tall he was, _"Whoa..."_ Karluaina gazed on in amazement.

Karluaina lost her focus on his height when he reach down to a hard leather bag on his lower back, reaching in he pulled out- _"That's a YGGDRASIL coin! Is he player!?"_ Karluaina eyes widened when she saw the coin, Eric looked at the coin in surprise and curiosity. "Whoa! I've never seen such a fine coin before! Where did you find it?" Eric spoke as he stared at the coin.

"I don't know where I got them. I just have them, but I know that their made of gold." Aratus stated as he placed the coin on the table, Karluaina stared in confusion when Aratus said that he didn't know where he got them and that he just had them.

Eric watched as Aratus pushed the large, intricate gold coin towards the Innkeeper, Eric reached under the counter and pulled a scale out from under it, he took out a gold coin of his own and placed it on one end and watched the scale tip in coin's favor, Eric grabbed the YGGDRASIL coin and looked at it for a second before placing on the opposite scale of the New World gold coin.

Eric watched in amazement as the scale balanced out between the two coins, Eric opened his mouth too speak, only to start gaping like a fish out of water as the scale started tipping into the larger coin's favor, before stopping making the larger coin dip lower then the smaller one, proving it's value to be greater.

As Eric stared at the coin harder then before, he _just_ noticed the intricacy of the coin, further doubling it's value from being at least worth four gold coins, to be worth one platinum and five gold coins.

Eric looked like his eyes were going to pop from his skull, after staring at the highly valuable coin for a few more seconds, his head snapped toward Aratus. "And you want to use this coin to pay for some water!?" Eric shouted, catching the attention of some of the adventurers and scum.

Eric stared at Aratus as though he had grown a second head, Aratus's left eyebrow jerked up. "Yes, or would you rather me place the water on a tab until I acquire the proper amount of coin?" Eric just sweat dropped at him, quickly thinking, Eric decided he need to calm down first and did just that. "No, not that... It's just, _are_ you sure that you want to use such a rare coin for water. And judging from how flawlessly crafted this coin is, it had to have been _very_ hard to fi-" Eric was cut short by giant man.

"I have more." Eric started sweating bullets upon hearing this and made one conclusion and his face said everything to Karluaina. _"This guys fucking rich!"_

Soon after the three-word sentence left Aratus mouth, the three people heard chairs scrapping against the wood floor, Eric and Karluaina looked over and past Aratus and saw more then half the Inn had stood up: Bounty hunters, outlaws and a few corrupt adventurers were glaring daggers at Aratus.

The sound of weapons readying and armor shifting filled all three of their ears, Karluaina reached for her steel longsword and grasped the hilt, only to release her grip upon Aratus speaking up. "Eric," Eric looked at Aratus, who had just spoken, "I'll defend you and your Inn from further threats..." Eric knew there was more, "In exchange, you collect information for me on _anything_ interesting. Do we have a Deal?" Aratus offered as all the scum stalked ever closer to the three, Eric had stopped sweating, from what Karluaina could see out of the corner of her eye as she kept an eye on the scum.

And from what she could feel, aside from malice and glee coming from the scum in front of her, Eric was... Relaxed? What?

"You have a deal, Aratus." Eric spoke calmly, in one quick motion Aratus grabbed his demonic, silver long sword's hilt on his back, ripped it from it's black sheathe, spun around and decapitated a woman holding a halberd and kite shield that had gotten a little to close, her head rode on his sword a moment before being thrown off by the force and momentum. The swing was quick, sharp and _very_ strong.

Karluaina, along with a few others- except Eric, watched in shock as the head hit the wall. "Do not interfere," Aratus looked at Karluaina from the corner of his raging inferno, "or you're next." Karluaina stared at Aratus for the bland, yet, threatening tone of Aratus's gravel like voice.

Little blood was on the blade of Aratus's demonic, silver colored sword. This display of skill scared most of the low-lives in front of them, "Holy shit!" One of them shouted, a corrupt, silver ranked adventurer holding a basic long sword and a great shield shortly charged at Aratus. He was only met with a painful death.

Aratus dashed forward and cut clean through the great shield and split the adventurer's arm in two down the middle, but not all the way though, leaving the adventurer screaming in agony and pain as he watched his left forearm split in two right before his eyes. His screams of terror were cut short as Aratus split him into two halves have a whole idiot.

Karluaina, Felix and any other staff that stepped out and into the main room watched in horror as one man cleaved through foe after foe.

Aratus didn't show mercy, even when they begged for their lives. Literality, down on their knees, saying stuff along the lines of; "I'm sorry! Don't kill me! I have a family!", to "I won't ever do it again! I swear!" and even "Please! Spare me!" all while crying their eyes out or pissing themselves.

He didn't spare any man or woman, they were all the same.

Karluaina wanted to think this was just a nightmare, but it wasn't. She wasn't going too baby herself and tell herself that this was a just a really, _really_ , bad dream, she knew that this was real, this was happening before her eyes. And she _knew_ couldn't do a thing, if she so much as tried to stop him, she would be in the same condition as his enemy.

Nothing but a bloody mess on the floor.

She may have been playing YGGDRASIL for fourteen years, right up to the server shut down. When the server shut down was announced, she had hard time believing it, asking every other player if they got the same message, and the answer was always the same. Yes, they did get the same message, it saddened Karluaina a great deal, as she loved the game with a passion that some didn't have.

And when the server shut down, she knew what happened- well sort of, she knew she was teleported and that she was her character, she was overjoyed. Karluaina had always enjoyed the idea of going and slaying a dragon, traveling and seeing unbelievable things, and embarking on epic quests with her friends.

Although, despite how naive that sounds, Karluaina was down to earth and knew that this New World wouldn't be all sunshine and lollipops- but, she wasn't expecting to run into a giant man and watch him commit a massacre in front of-

Karluaina was ripped from her thoughts when a spray of blood struck her across her face, Karluaina stood there for a moment before she reached into her leather bag and pulled out a red handkerchief and wiped the blood from her face and obscuring her vision as well, after wiping the blood from her face she noticed how quiet it was. Pulling the red cloth from her eyes Karluaina gazed upon a horrific scene.

Warm, fresh blood littered the main area of the Inn. Bodies were scattered about and mangled in a multitude of ways, one body was cleaved into four pieces, one was pinned to the wall by it's own spear, another was impaled on a great sword, the tip of the great sword was visible as it poked out of the _very_ dead person's mouth, and Karluaina saw what looked like little red cubes littering the- Oh god. _"He diced one of them into little cubes! How?!"_ Karluaina gazed on in shock.

Behind her, she could hear someone vomit from the pungent stench of death that filled the Inn.

Karluaina had one thought. _"What the fuck are we going to do about this mess!?"_ Karlaina turned to look at a few others, Felix was sweating and hyperventilating, but not hard enough to make him pass out, Eric was staring at the mess with a puzzled look; thinking of how to clean this up.

* * *

Aratus stared at the calamity he had brought to these fools that had tried to group up on him and kill him for the fine coins. Shaking his head, Aratus started thinking of a way to remove the evidence of this slaughter. Aratus was thinking of what to do when answers suddenly flooded his head.

He knew what to do.

Aratus turned to Karluaina, Eric and Felix, although he did focus on Eric more then the others. "Is there a large furnace in this Inn?" Aratus asked, which Eric responded to by nodded, Aratus turned back to the few bodies he hadn't mangled. With a flick of his wrist he threw most of the blood on his sword off, but would still need to go over it with a damp rag to get the remaining stains off. Aratus swung his arm up and slipped the slightly stained sword into it's sheathe. A satisfying click told Aratus his sword was firmly placed in it home.

Aratus walked over to the bodies and proceeded to strip them of everything. Once done with striping the bodies of all the metals that would have a hard time burning in the furnace, Aratus lifted up the corpse of a dead, fat man with ease and through him over his should like a sack of potatoes. "Karluaina," Karluaina's eyes snapped in his direction, "Grab a body and help, before someone else walks through that door." Aratus turned away from Karluaina as she walked over to a corpse and heaved it into a bride hold, all while grumbling about how disgusting corpses feel, even through leather gloves.

Aratus turned to the man with long, blond hair and crystal armor. "Give us a hand." The man, who we will identify as Crystal just to make identifying him easier, nodded and stood up from his stool and went to collect a carcass, Aratus looked to Eric. "Where's the furnace." Eric looked around Aratus to see if Karluaina and Crystal had their corpses.

Eric looked back at Aratus and turned around. "Follow me." Eric said as he walked into the kitchen. Aratus, Karluaina and Crystal follow Eric when they entered the Kitchen one by one, Eric pulled a trapdoor open and walked down the stairs into a large, brick cellar. Karluaina followed Eric down the cellar stairs first, because she's the shortest one of three.

Crystal was next. Aratus soon follow behind them, but he had a little trouble getting down the stairs because of his height being seven foot and eleven inches, or 243 centimeters, he was able to get down the stairs and follow the others, but with great pain as the small space between the cellar roof and floor was to small, causing Aratus to crouch down painfully for his abnormal height.

Up ahead he saw Eric open a large underground furnace, but by the looks of it's condition, he didn't use it much. The outside of the furnace was brick and black iron, the brick interior was barely blackened from fire. Karluaina had just thrown her bloody luggage in the furnace, Crystal did the same.

Turning around Crystal saw the trouble Aratus was having moving in the small space and walked over to grab the corpse from the giant. "I'll take the body, go get the others and drop them down here, Karluaina and I will handle the rest." Crystal spoke with a strong voice that sounded like it carried the world on it. Aratus nodded at him and turned around to leave the cellar, after giving Crystal the fat ass of coarse.

Aratus climbed up the ladder and stretched his back to levitate the pain from bending over at a painful. Aratus walked out of the kitchen and almost bumped into Felix, who let out a quick sorry. As Aratus stepped by he saw that the milk-white haired man with amber eyes and the woman with white hair and black clothes were still there as well as a few others, just enjoying their drinks. _"It seems like this happens often. Good, the guards will be less suspicious of what happened here."_ Aratus thought as he surveyed the Inn's interior.

As Aratus examined the Inn he noticed how quickly it had been cleaned, with the remaining few bodies under red-stained white sheets. Aratus moved to collect the bodies.

* * *

Roughly forty minutes or so later, the bodies of the scum, as Aratus kept putting them. Now you might be thinking that none of this is making any sense, well this isn't the first time this has happened in the 'Black Horse' Inn, it's happened a lot actually, hence why Eric has the furnace, and it's only used for burning bodies.

Karluaina was used to this as she actually killed a few people, but she never enjoyed it and only killed other people if necessary. This was defiantly not her first rodeo, this was just the ugliest one she's been though. _"I mean, who take's the time to dice someone into little cubes?"_ Karluaina thought blandly as she sat at the bar swirling her mug of ale, it was't the heavy stuff, she drank it solely for the taste of it.

Karluaina heard some heavy, somehow quiet, footsteps to her left, turning her head towards the sound, she saw that it was Aratus. Steel met Fire, and Fire met Steel. "Some first introductions, huh?" Karluaina said to Aratus in a tired tone, Aratus took the seat next to her on her left.

"Yes, quite some introductions." Was his flat, strong, gravely response, his tone made Karluaina's brow furrow, instead of pushing for anything out of him for the moment, Karluaina shifted her attention to her ale and took a hefty swig of the tasty, lightweight beer. Karluaina brought the mug back to the bar counter.

Karluaina took another moment to look around the 'Black Horse' Inn. Eric was talking with his staff, most likely setting up a plan for when the guards come and ask questions. Felix was tending the bar with an exhausted expression, the other people that were here when the fight- no, a better word. When the massacre started, had dwindled down to just the woman with white hair and black clothes, along with Crystal, who was now sitting in his original seat when everything started.

"Now," Karluaina turned to Aratus, who had just spoken, "about that whole 'Partying up' thing, are we still going to do this?" Karluaina just gave him a blank look that said, 'Really mate, Really'. However, Aratus' calculating gaze never wavered as they stared at each other.

Shaking her head, Karluaina looked away from the dirt covered giant and raised her mug to take another hearty drink of it. Only for no ale to meet her lips, except for a single drop, she took the mug away from her lips and placed it back on the counter, with a sigh, Karluaina leaned back into the stool before looking at Aratus with an irritated look. "You're a dick." She said with a hefty huff fallowing soon after.

Aratus just stared at her with a bland look. "Are we partying up or not." Aratus stated more than questioned, Karluaina just threw her head back and let out a frustrated sigh mixed with an irritated groan.

Turning her head back to him with a slightly less irritated look, letting out a quick huff, she responded. "Yeah, we still are." Karluaina said while looking at him. Now your thinking _"She does knows his another player, right?"_ Yes she did know if the YGGDRASIL coins were any indication, as well as his power, which felt like it was in literal pieces.

Still looking at Aratus, Karluaina asked a question that confused Aratus quite some. "Ya got a helmet?"

* * *

To Be Continued.

* * *

Next Chapter: Aratus was constantly shifting his helmet, trying, and failing, to get comfortable with it on. "I hate this helmet."

 **[1]** **'Durium's Knight', is the Durium Smelter armor from the third-person hack and slash game, Overlord, or Overlord: Rising Hell. The only diffrence is: The left gauntlet for Aratus is solid and not on fire. The Minion embossed plate at the pelvis in the game is changed to a Sword embossed plate.**

 **[2] 'Flamewing', is a 6th Tier spell. You don't see it be cast in the Manga or the Anime, and I haven't read the book, so if it is used and my interpretation of it is wrong... Woof.**

 **[3] 'Knight Redemption's Armor', is Siegfried's armor from Soulcalibur VI, except Karluaina's version of it is smaller and more fit for a woman's body, underneath is Nightmare's 'Cataclysm Corrosion', only without the actual corrosion and not ripped to pieces.**

 **Fun facts; Aratus looks similar to David Bowie, rest in piece Mr. Bowie.**

 **Karluaina's hair is similar to female Corrin's hair style (the first one you see) in Fire Emblem: Fates or Super Smash Bros. 4/Ultimate.**

 **Crystal was Siegfried, from Soulcalibur IV.**

 **The woman with white hair and black clothes was 2B, from NieR: Automata** **.**

 **The man with milky-white hair and amber eyes was Geralt of Riva, from the Witcher series.**

 **The Azure knight, the one Aratus floored, was Nightmare, from Soulcalibur VI.**


	3. Chapter 3: Goblins, Vile Creatures

' **Bout time!  
**

Cover Art belongs too: Lutherniel at Deviantart.

If Luthernial complains about the cover art, I will remove it and do so willingly, so death threats and sue will be unnecessary.

Any and all references that hint towards a game, anime, manga, book, movie or tv series belongs to it's original owners.

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Overlord, or any other copyrighted content.**

Good day and enjoy this, **poorly** written, story.

* * *

Karluaina stretched her arms as she sat up in her bed. Looking over to her door, she started thinking about what happened yesterday. _"Oh yeah, when we were done talking at the bar and about to head to the Adventurer's Guild, the sun had started setting."_ Karluaina thought as she yawned and stretched again, getting up from her bed, still half asleep, Karluaina dragged her feet to her bedroom door still in her night gown which was gray, loose and obscured her well built body.

Opening the door to her room, she walked down the short hallway and down the stairs. Once down stairs, she saw her modestly sized main floor; over to the left was her kitchen, to the right was the dining table, a vase with roses in it sat on a table clothe. It may not be her old home she lived in before YGGDRASIL shut down, but she still loved it, it was small, and homely.

Comparing it to her old home, which was a nicely sized, two story building, was unfair. But, again, she loves this one more. Real life was a shit hole anyway. Walking down the steps, Karluaina walked to her kitchen intending to cook some breakfast- even though she wasn't a very good cook, she could still cook, it just wouldn't be an explosion of flavor.

As Karluaina was placing her frying pan on the wood stove, she heard shuffling behind her, peering over her shoulder she saw Aratus getting up off her couch and rubbing his eyes. _"Oh yeah, forgot I let him crash here."_ Karluaina thought as she turned back to the wood stove, placing wood logs inside it.

Too lazy to light it properly, she blasted it with a weak fire ball to set the wood on fire and heat the pan on top up.

Looking back to Aratus, she saw him stand from the couch and walk, trudge to be precise, his way to her dining table, minding the chandler in front of him, her ceiling was eight foot high from the floor, allowing Aratus to walk without having to break his neck. Aratus pulls out a chair and sits down while rubbing his face with his left hand, trying to keep himself awake and not to fall asleep.

Aratus isn't wearing his armor, his clothes consist of a loose, dark reddish-brown shirt and loose black trousers, his hair and face free from any dirt, having washed himself down last night.

Karluaina turns back to her heated pan, feeling the heat radiate off it, Karluaina cracks an egg into the pan after applying some butter so the egg wouldn't stick to the iron pan. Karluaina watched the egg she had cracked into the pan, before reaching over for another one.

* * *

Aratus was tired even though he had just gotten up. _"Two or three days without rest can do that to you..."_ Aratus pulled his hand from his face and sat up, forcing his eyes to stay open. Hearing sizzling coming from his left, Aratus turned to the noise and saw Karluaina standing over a wood stove, a pan in front of her and a wood spatula in her right hand.

Aratus watched as she reached for a basket of eggs, grabbed an egg, cracked it and dumped the contents into the pan before turning to him. "How ya feeling sleepy head?" Karluaina asked him as though they had known each other for years.

Aratus shook his head, clearing the cobwebs that were forming in his mind from still waking up. "Still half asleep, but alright regardless." Aratus responded tiredly as he watched her turn back to her cooking.

"Well that's good, we all need our sleep, including you." Karluaina spoke over her shoulder without looking back to him. "Anyway, how do you like your egg." She a-

 **"Over hard."** A voice sounded from the back of Aratus' mind, it didn't hurt or anything, it just alarmed him a little. It sounded like him, but at the same time it didn't.

As quick as the voice was there it was gone. Aratus would have kept thinking about it, but Karluaina called his name. "Oh, over hard." Aratus spoke giving the answer that the voice gave him. Karluaina turned back to the pan and Aratus watched as she flipped one of the eggs, the sizzling of the egg got louder as the less cooked side hit the oil from the eggs in the pan.

Aratus watched as Karluaina leaned away from the pan a little to avoid getting burnt by the oil spiting from the pan. Aratus turned away from her and his thoughts turned back to the voice.

It's was odd, it sounded like him, but different; it was clearer, cleaner, when compared to his gravely and rough voice. It also had more emotion to it, like it was happy, but controlled at the same time. _"I don't understand,"_ Aratus looked back to Karluaina and shook his head before turning back to the table. _"I'll ignore it. For now, at least."_ Aratus thought, dismissing the voice in the back of his mind. Aratus would have thought of more things if it weren't for the plate of crisp bacon and an over cooked egg placed in front of him by a lightly-tanned, white hand.

"I hope I cooked the bacon right, this time." Karluaina mused as she placed down a steel fork and knife. "I hope you enjoy it, I'm not the best cook but it's not poisoned, if you were wondering." Karluaina stated happily has she walked off to get her serving.

Aratus was a little irritated as he looked at the food. "I could have gotten it myself." Aratus stated too Karluaina has she placed her share of the breakfast on her steel plate, shortly approaching the dining table and sitting down, knife and fork in hand.

"I know, I just wanted to get it for you." Karluaina spoke as she cut some bacon and egg, stacking them together for taste, before stuffing it into her open mouth. Aratus saw no reason not to eat it.

Grabbing the fork and knife, he cut some bacon, before elegantly placing it in his mouth and chewing it thoroughly, muscle memory doing it's work for him.

Closing his eyes, Aratus thought of the taste, even though it never bothered him with how something tastes-he could eat anything he wanted, regardless of it's flavor, it was just how he was.

back to the bacon; it wasn't bland but it wasn't very flavorful either, it was decently cooked; not perfect, but not bad either, somewhere in between. Opening his eyes, Aratus saw Karluaina across from him, staring at him intently and expectantly. "Well? How is it?" She spoke as she watched Aratus swallow his piece of bacon after being chewed into a paste by his sharp teeth.

"It's not perfect," She deflated in front of him like a balloon, "but," She perked back up from hearing him continue, "it's good, some seasoning would do it nicely." Aratus gave his conclusion on her cooking, he watched as she fist pumped giving a silent "yes". Aratus continued eating the bacon as Karluaina went back to her breakfast, using the same method of cutting some bacon, then cutting some egg and stacking them.

* * *

The rest of the breakfast went in content silence, by the time Karluaina was done with her plate, Aratus had just gotten to his egg. Karluaina looked towards him and saw him just start to cut his egg for the first time. "Jeez, can you eat any slower?" Aratus looked towards her.

Stopping his cutting motion, he gave her a bland look. "I can." Was his blunt answer to her, it caused a drop of sweat to roll down her head as she stared at the zealous man.

 _"Okay... Jokes are a bad idea with him..."_ Karluaina thought as she watched him cut the egg even slower than before. "You know, you don't have to. I was just joking around." Karluaina said as Aratus increased his pace eating a little quicker than when they started.

Karluaina clapped her hands and stood up from her seat, making Aratus look at her as his fork, once again, elegantly placed a bit of fried egg in his mouth. "Whelp! I'm headed up stairs to get suited up for the day, you finish up and get suited up yourself, alright?" Karluaina spoke as she walked over to a basin in the kitchen counter, the basin had water in it. Karluaina lazily dumped her plate in the basin, not bothering to clean it right now.

The sound of wood scraping against wood caught her attention, turning she saw Aratus stand from the table with his plate and utensils in hand. walking over to the water filled basin, ducking under the chandler on his way. Karluaina turned away from him as she walked to and up the stairs and towards her room.

Opening her bedroom door and closing it, she leaned against the door before pushing off it and cheering as quietly as she could, so as to not alert the man down stairs. _"Someone actually liked my cooking! Yes!"_ Karluaina rejoiced in her mind as she threw her arms up. "Now! Let's get suited up!" Karluaina exclaimed as she walked to the armoire where she kept all her normal clothes, quickly pulling the nightgown off her being she threw it at her bed and reached into her soul, metaphorically speaking, she watched as the 'Knight of Redemption's Armor' brightly fazed into existence onto her body.

The only difference now was her head; the helmet to the set was a late 15th century, European 'Armet', the helmet's design was similar to the rest of the armor, with the flowing gold accents and trim, the base color was much like the armor itself, steel white. The main deference between the body armor and the helmet was; the helmet was shinier and cleaner than the armor.

She didn't wear it much obviously, she didn't mind wearing it. It was just annoying to wear a helmet with long hair, however thankfully the helmet had a small slit in the back and bottom of the helm, just between the top plate of the gorget and the base of the helm. Allowing her hair to flow out. So... why doesn't she like wearing it? It gets itchy sometimes, alright! Especially when it gets hot!

After getting comfortable with the true full set on, Karluaina walked towards her bedroom door. Opening it and stepping into the modest hallway, she then proceeded to walk towards and down the stairs.

Completely forgetting to throw her nightgown into the armoire.

When she got to the ground floor she saw Aratus, rolling his shoulders and stretching, getting comfortable in his armor. On the dining table was his helmet. And quite an odd one it was, the metal's color matched the 'Durium's Knight' set, being a steel gray, it also had similar embossing patterns as well. Now, what truly made the helmet odd - to her at least - was the design of the helmet.

It's a 16th century Close Helmet, the helm of it was fluted and at the mid point of the helm it was bolted to the back portion of it with studs, from behind the visor and to the back of the helm, any lower then that would be thick and solid metal protecting the back of his neck from most weapons.

The visor was shaped to slide up the helmet smoothly without grinding on the metal, it dipped downward at the tip of the visor rather than pointing outward. Five, vertical slits allowed him to see through it, the slits closer to the center of the visor were larger, and as they got closer to the hinges they got smaller.

The bevor was attached to the helmet via more studs and a leather strap to help hold it in place more, the neck portion of the bevor was nonexistent, leaving only the thick jaw guard, on each side of the jaw-bevor was two groups of four holes all in a plus sign formation (+), allowing him to breath.

And to hold the helmet on was just a simple, leather, chin-strap.

The Helmet had seen it's fair share of use. Much like the rest of his armor, it had stretches, scars and dents. Overall the helmet looked really cool, but a little weird with it's design.

Aratus looked at the helmet for a moment, before just grabbing and not making a move to equip it. Karluaina opened the visor and cheek guard so she could speak clearly. "Pretty cool helmet you got there, Aratus." Aratus looked toward her and looked her up and down, examining her equipment. "Although," Aratus looked back at her exposed face. "It does look a little weird." Aratus looked at the helmet in his grasp with a twitching eye, before shaking his head.

Aratus looked back at her with his inferno - not literally - like eyes. "So, we're headed to the guild to get myself registered, then we'll go on a 'quest'. Right?" Aratus spoke, all while looking Karluaina in the eye.

"Yep! That's right, so, let's get moving!" Karluaina stated as she walked past Aratus and towards her door, while closing her helmet's visor and cheek guard, pulling it open and walking out into the bright, inviting morn. She heard Aratus close the door behind him as he stepped out.

Karluaina turned to look at him and watched him slip the helmet on and do up the chin strap. Aratus stood up straight, gauntlet clenched and sword on his back, rocking that well-worn set of armor made him look incredible and intimidating, she couldn't help but compliment him. "Damn, Aratus, you look intimidating." She stated as she looked at Aratus. Not waiting for a reply, Karluaina pivoted on her booted heel and walked towards the Adventruer's Guild to get Aratus signed up.

As they we're walking towards the Adventurer's Guild to sign Aratus up, Aratus was trying to get use to wearing the helmet, it limited his field of view and it constantly shifted around slightly, making him shift it back into place. Aratus was constantly shifting his helmet, trying, and failing, to get comfortable with it on. "I hate this helmet." Aratus said under his breath as he fallowed Karluaina to the Guild.

Thankfully, the streets were quite empty in the morning, a few people here and there, but overall; quite empty. And due to both of them wielding weapons and being in full suits of armor made the citizens avoid them.

Karluaina looked like your typical knight-in-shining-armor, where as Aratus looked like your typical evil-warmongering-warlord. The odd pair surely turned a few eyes their way.

As they were walking, the Adventurer's Guild came into view. When they reached the double doors, Aratus could her the sounds of a lot of other Adventurers inside. Karluaina must of heard the voices as well, seeing how she stopped and stepped off to the side getting the right door, knowing exactly what she wanted to do, and deciding to humor her, Aratus walked over to the left and grabbed the handle, best too learn to work together rather than later in the heat of battle.

Karluain brought up her left hand and counted down with her fingers.

One.

Two.

Three.

Karluaina and Aratus opened the doors at the same time, and quite loudly at that, the inside of the guild went quiet as most of, if not, the entire guild looked towards them.

Aratus could hear most of them whispering to each other, he was able to pick out a few of them too. "Hey who's that guy, haven't seen him before." "Holy shit! He's bloody tall!" "Oh, great. It's _her_ again." That last one caught his attention, Aratus' head snapped towards the woman that spoke of his good-hearted acquaintance with resentment.

Aratus saw a group of three, one woman and two men. Until we get a name, let's just call her Resentment. The woman, Resentment, was a warrior, obviously, as if the Zweihänder on her back wasn't enough indication.

One of the two men was a War-mage, judging by his lightly, plated, leather armor and flail. Judge seems fitting for him.

The last one was a Ranger, or an Archer. Aratus was leaning toward Ranger, because of the longsword on his back and leather armor. _"I'm feeling lazy, I'll just call him Ranger."_ Aratus thought as he stared at them as he and Karluaina walked in and mostly everyone went back to what they were doing, but a few continued to look at them, and by them, I mean Aratus.

Ranger leaned towards Resentment, and spoke to her. "Hey, the big guys staring at us." Ranger spoke with a hushed voice, but it was worthless, Aratus could hear him as if they were yelling in Aratus' ear.

Resentment looked at Aratus' eyes, or at least, she tried to because of his helmet blocking her view. "Who's he? never seen him before. But, if he's fallowing that _bitch_ , then he's our enemy." She spoke with absolute venom as she leered in their direction.

A sudden, unholy rage flooded into Aratus' mind at an alarming rate, his left hand balled _painfully_ into a fist, Aratus heard the leather stress against his hand. He doesn't know what he would have done if a sudden calm hadn't hit him.

With a more calm and controlled mind, Aratus took what Resentment had said as a challenge. Focusing a little magic into his eyes in just the right way, made them glow like a fire.

The sudden glow made Resentment lean backwards slightly, now knowing that he was defiantly looking at her, but with a, literal, raging inferno. "Okay, he's defiantly looking at us." Ranger said, Aratus saw that Resentment was making to stand.

However Judge's hand on her shoulder stopped her. "It would be best, if we did nothing. At least, not right now." Judge spoke as he looked at Aratus was a calculating gaze.

Aratus bumped into something hard as he was walking, snapping his head away from the group to see what blocked his path, he soon realized he was the receptionist's desk, making him cut the magic flow from his eyes. "Heh, you should watch where you're walking, Aratus." Karluaina spoke with a chuckle as she walked, Aratus had walked thighs first into the desk.

The receptionist cleared her throat to get their attention, she was a petite black woman with sliver eyes, a smooth and full face with brown hair tied in a lazy, and very messy bun.

Hidden behind his visor, Aratus' left eyebrow shot up at her appearance. "Good morning, Karla, dear, who's your quite tall friend, if you don't mind introducing me." She spoke using Karluaina's nick name, Karla, showing that she knew Karluaina, all while examining Aratus with a keen eye. She also has a rather peculiar accent, like that one person that loves being rich **[1]**.

"Oh, his name's Aratus!" Karluaina stated as she looked at the receptionist through her visor, while bashing the back of her fist into Aratus' chest, making him flinch a little, she's strong. Very strong. Good, Aratus refuses to work with a weakling. "Aratus, this is Grace, the receptionist!" Karluaina introduced him to her.

Grace nodded slightly as a greeting, Aratus stood unmoving like a titan of stone.

"It is absolutly smashing too meet you, Mr. Aratus" Grace spoke as she reached behind the bar like desk, Aratus watched as she pulled out a drawer and pulled out a sheet and placed it on the counter, sliding it towards his thighs for him to grab it.

Aratus reached for the sheet of paper and the quill to sign himself in, he looked back at Grace. "Likewise, Ms. Grace." Aratus spoke, deciding that being at least a _little_ bit polite wouldn't hurt him, at least, he hoped it wouldn't.

Leaning down slightly, Aratus started to write on the sheet's blank spots. As he was writing, he couldn't help but listen to Karluaina and Grace's conversation. "Karla, dear, Have you reconsidered taking the test?" Grace spoke on a leveled tone, under that tone was a bit of hope leaking though, how odd.

"Grace, you know my answer." Karluaina started before quickly clearing her throat. "I will not take the guild's test to increase my rank until I've completed a set number of quests." Karluaina spoke- no, it was more like she recited it. She's spoken that more then once.

"Oh, dear, I was hoping that today, you would have changed your mind..." Grace sounded as though she had just witnessed something quite stupid. Aratus had _definitely_ heard something stupid.

Aratus stood up straight, back to his full titanic height, and pushed the sheet toward Grace with the quill on top of the paper. "Oh, thank you, Aratus, and here's your rank plate." Grace spoke as she pushed a copper plate toward him, which he tied, not around his neck, but to the ring that held his crimson red, tattered shawl together over his shoulders.

Afterward, Grace quickly looked at Karluaina before motioning with her right index finger for him to come closer. Aratus obliged, leaning towards the small, black woman.

Grace spoke in a hushed voice so others wouldn't be able to hear her. "If you're going to form a party with Karla, could you _please_ drill some sense into her." Grace quickly looked back at Karluaina, before looking back at Aratus with a determined expression. "She's already done twenty four quests, and of various difficulties, which is more than enough to go from copper to silver. Can you, maybe, change her mind?" Grace explained while also asking him to do something.

Aratus quickly rolled it around his head, lifting his right hand in a fist, he placed it against where his mouth would be and used his left forearm to hold his right in place. _"If she doesn't advance from copper to a higher rank, than we won't be able to take on more advanced quests and acquire larger pay. How stupid of her not advancing, no wonder she's having financial problems."_ Aratus dropped his stance and nodded at Grace, confirming that he would try.

Grace, intern, smiled at him and gave a quick nod of thanks, it was at this moment that Karluaina turned back to them. "All done? Good let's get ourselves a quest." Karluaina walked over to the quest board, after examining the board for a little, she grabbed a copper rank quest to clear a mining cave of Goblins. "This will be a cake walk for us." Karluaina said as she handed the quest to Aratus.

Aratus looked the sheet over. The reward for completely clearing the Goblin nest was; twenty four copper pieces and two silver. There's also directions on the paper, Aratus nodded his head before looking towards Karluaina, who was inspecting her sword while sitting at a table close to the receptionist desk.

Karluaina looked towards Aratus as he walked over to her, quest sheet in hand. "You got a map?" Aratus questioned, his eyes staring straight at Karluaina through his helmet.

Karluaina slipped the sword back into it's scabbard on her back. "Yep, right here." Karluaina reached around her back and into her hard leather, box like satchel and fished out a worn, paper map and handed to him.

Aratus grabbed the map from her hand, he set the quest sheet on the table and checked the village's name on the quest sheet. The Village of Geldin; a remote village that was at least two to three days from E-Rantel, a remote, worthless village out in the middle of whoop-whoop **[2]**.

How annoying. At least, it was to Aratus.

After Aratus was done going over the quest sheet, he started folding it, His gauntlets-somehow-not getting in his way.

The sound of the paper being folded caught Karluaina's attention. "Ready?" Aratus gave her a nod. "Right, let's roll out!" She cheered as she stood and walked towards the exit, easily getting ahead of Aratus with quick steps.

Aratus quickly caught up to her with long strides.

 _"I should ask her about those three adventurers."_ Aratus thought as they quickly reached the doors to the Guild.

Karluina grabbed both door knobs and quickly opened the doors, stepping out just as quickly. The doors were quickly swinging back to shut, but were stopped as Aratus' left foot got caught between them when he reached the doors, ducking down slightly to fit through the door frame as he pushed the doors open with his left arm.

When Aratus walked out of the building, Karluaina was standing there waiting. "Alright," She started, pointing her left index finger up to the sky. "We got everything for the long walk to Geldin?" She question as the doors to the Adventurer's Guild slammed shut behind Aratus.

Aratus couldn't help but pick at her chose of words. _"Neither of us has a pack or bag to carry anything."_ Aratus thought as he walked from the door to her. "Unless you've got something I can't see, no." Was his flat gravely response as he stepped up to stand in front of her, the height difference between the two was very noticeable.

Karluaina turned on her heel and realized how stupid her question was. "Okay, stupid question..." Karluaina rubbed the back of her helmet, running her gauntlet fingers through her hair in the process, and starting thinking. "It's to long to and from the house from here, just buy a couple bags and supplies as we head to the gate." Karluaina said as she reached into the coin purse on her waist. "Oh, yeah... no money... Damn..." Karluaina cursed as she reached for the hard leather bag on her waist and pulled out an YGGDRASIL coin and started staring at it meticulously. "It's a bad idea to use YGGDRASIL coins, so we'll just have to make do..." She said with down trodden expression.

Completely ignoring her, Aratus starting walking back to the house, Aratus didn't need to look at her too know she turned to the sound of him walking away, with those steel greaves of his, how couldn't you?

Aratus ignored the sound of her following him, he was just going to get a bag. What was she following him?

The answer slapped him in the face, their in a party. Gotta stick together.

Thankfully the streets were sparse and had little people walking around. The few that were out were avoiding Aratus like the plague. Aratus noticed Karluaina jogging beside him, his eyebrow shot up in his helmet and looked down at his feet. He was walking alright, so why was she jogging?

This was going to make him sound stupid. "Why are you jogging." Was his flat and gravely question, he was already feeling stupid for asking, the answer was obvious- why ask?

"Have you looked at how tall you are." Was her equally flat response, yep feeling like an idiot.

Aratus shook his head and looked forward, the house was in view, just a little more.

And there, their both now in front of the house they left an roughly forty minutes ago. Aratus turned towards Karluaina. "Go and grab two bags come back, we'll fish in a near by river on the way if you get hungry." Plan made, Aratus stepped to the side so Karluaina could enter her own house.

Karluaina looked at him for a moment, before shrugging, pulling her key out and entering inside to get some bags.

She came back out a minute later, a large knapsack tha was just to big for her and a smaller one that was fitted over his shoulders. She pushed the larger one towards Aratus, who grabbed it and threw it over his shoulder and neck. "Alright, let's go." Karluaina said, beginning to walk away as well.

Another fifteen minute walk and they were exiting the front gate of the Fortress to follow the road to Geldin Village too handle these ugly vermin.

Aratus's heart thumped strongly at the idea of slaughtering something so distastfull.

* * *

This took longer than it should have.

 **[1] Talking like a person that loves being rich:** Grace has a noble voice with a thick British accent.

 **[2] Village out in the middle of whoop-whoop:** 'Whoop-whoop' is Aussie slang for: Out in the middle of nowhere.

 **Next Chapter:** Aratus' special sword was cutting through the cave walls and the goblins with no effort.


End file.
